Vacation Guide to the Solar System: Science for the Savvy Space Traveler!

By Olivia Koski and Jana Grcevich

Packed with real science and fueled by imagination, a beautifully illustrated guide to traveling in our solar system

Imagine taking a hike along the windswept red plains of Mars to dig for signs of life, or touring one of Jupiter's sixty-four moons where you can photograph its swirling storms.  For a shorter trip on a tight budget, the Moon is quite majestic and very quiet if you can make it during the off-season.

Packed with full color illustrations and real-world science, Vacation Guide to the Solar System is the must-have planning guide for the curious space adventurer, covering all of the essentials for your next voyage, how to get there, and what to do when you arrive. Perfect for fans of Neil deGrasse Tyson's Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, this tongue-in-cheek reference guide is an imaginative exploration into the “What if” of space travel, sharing fascinating facts about space, the planets in our solar system, and even some moons!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Release date: Jun 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9781101993415

Book preview

Cover for Vacation Guide to the Solar System

PENGUIN BOOKS

VACATION GUIDE TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Olivia Koski was born in the desert and raised in the mountains. She is head of operations for Guerilla Science. Previously she worked as a senior producer at The Atavist Magazine and a laser engineer at Lockheed Martin. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and daughter.

Jana Grcevich lives in Brooklyn and enjoys wandering in Prospect Park. She received her PhD in astronomy from Columbia University and worked at the American Museum of Natural History, where she studied dwarf galaxies and taught astronomy to future high school science teachers.

Guerilla Science creates live, immersive experiences that connect people to science in new and unexpected ways. Since 2008 it has held events for more than 100,000 participants at music festivals, underground bunkers, storefronts, parks, pop-up shops, and more, toward its mission to build a society where science is celebrated as an integral part of culture.

for Viola and James, my fellow travel companions

—OK

for my father and mother, who sang me I See the Moon

—JG

PENGUIN BOOKS

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street

New York, New York 10014

penguin.com

Copyright © 2017 by Olivia Koski, Jana Grcevich, and Guerilla Science, LLC

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

Illustrations here, here, here: Copyright Steve Thomas, 2016. Used with permission.

No copyright is claimed for works of the United States Government. Other illustrations: Created by Steve Thomas. Copyright © 2017 by Olivia Koski, Jana Grcevich, and Guerilla Science, LLC

Ebook ISBN 9781101993415

Cover design and illustration by Steve Thomas

Version_1

CONTENTS

Title Page

Dedication

Copyright

Authors’ Note

Countdown

Preparing for Your Trip

Destination • Moon

Destination • Mercury

Destination • Venus

Destination • Mars

Destination • Jupiter

Destination • Saturn

Destination • Uranus

Destination • Neptune

Destination • Pluto

Homecoming

Acknowledgments

References

AUTHORS’ NOTE

Some may question the wisdom of creating a vacation guide to the planets when human feet haven’t touched the ground of another world (the Moon) since 1972. If you’re thinking that a space vacation is a distant fantasy, however, remember that one hundred years ago, airplanes were a cutting-edge technology. The fast ones could travel at the great speed of 120 miles per hour, bringing a prospective space traveler to Neptune in 2,571 years. In 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft reached Neptune in less than twelve years traveling at 42,000 miles per hour. One hundred years from now, who knows how long a trip to Neptune might take? Your space-vacationing great-grandchildren may discover this book in an old Martian library, and smile at our naive vision of the future.

Assuming we don’t destroy ourselves first, humans will go to the places we describe in this book someday, almost without question. With the right resources, and most important the will, we can travel to distant worlds. Some of what we discuss, such as human visits to the Moon and Mars, will probably happen in the coming decades. Other things, such as finding ways for our bodies to withstand the extreme radiation near Jupiter, the conditions of the sun-facing side of Mercury, or the long journey to the outer solar system, may take much longer. In some cases we may continue to use probes and robotic explorers to virtually experience distant planets where human survival is impractical.

We are, at heart, space travel agents. Our job is to sell you on the idea of a space vacation. We’ve created this guide using the best available information on each destination. While we haven’t, technically, been to any of them ourselves, rest assured, we have excellent sources who confirm the accuracy of our descriptions of these holiday locations. In this book, we have embellished certain things such as the existence of buildings, cities, and other human-built infrastructure on other planets and moons. Apart from the remains of probes, rovers, and orbiters, six American flags that are likely bleached white on the Moon, and some minor debris, nothing human-made exists on other planetary bodies, and human feet have not touched any alien world except the Moon. Any bit of fiction you do find in this book is informed by scientific and technological expertise, and meant to illustrate the real experience you might have on your vacation.

How can you recognize what is real and what is not? Natural properties of destinations, such as temperature, length of day, climate, etc., are based on the latest scientific research, and we rely on physics to describe how things behave. References to missions, probes, landers, and certain specific rovers are real. The landscapes we portray are real. Names of geographic locations are mostly given according to the International Astronomical Union standards. We chose to use the English translation when possible for readability. The Latin name, commonly used in scientific literature, is often listed in parentheses. Artistic liberties that we took with reality include: references to cities underground and airborne; local rumors; the possibility of renting rovers, submarines, airships, hover cars, or other vehicles used for navigating alien landscapes; the mere likelihood of surviving exposure to certain types of environments; and the ease with which you can expect to travel to various locations in our solar system.

Creative flourishes aside, we’re at the dawn of a space exploration boom. In the short time since Guerilla Science opened its first pop-up Intergalactic Travel Bureau to plan space vacations for the public in 2011, there have been incredible gains in humankind’s knowledge of neighboring planets. Scientific missions have brought back images from Pluto, Saturn, and Jupiter, and landed a robot on a distant comet. Thousands of exoplanets, those mysterious worlds orbiting distant stars, have been detected, and more are waiting to be found. The more we discover about other worlds, the more we come to reflect on our own place in the cosmos. Anyone who delves deep into the conditions present on other planets and the extreme measures necessary to keep humans alive on them soon realizes how rare and precious Earth is and how imperative it is that we protect Earth’s environment for future generations. The goal of vacationing in space is not at odds with solving our many pressing social, economic, and environmental problems back home. If anything it helps bring into focus the importance of protecting our planet so we have a place to come home to.

As scientists continue making new discoveries about places beyond Earth, and as we struggle to find ways to protect the only planet we know of that is hospitable to human life, entrepreneurs are figuring out ways to make space vacations a reality. Elon Musk’s company SpaceX delivers cargo to the International Space Station, and hopes eventually to deliver people to Mars. Other companies, such as Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, are racing to be the first to bring private citizens to the edge of space. A company called World View wants to give tourists a view of the curvature of the earth with high-altitude balloon rides, and Bigelow Aerospace, run by budget hotel magnate Robert Bigelow, aspires to rent out inflatable hotel rooms that orbit our planet. These companies are true-life pioneers of the space vacation industry. It’s only a matter of time before you, dear traveler, might take a trip.

Your rocket ship awaits.

COUNTDOWN

From the humble ground of your home planet, you can look up at the night sky and see a future of adventure, relaxation, and romance. Every point of light is a possible vacation spot. Where would you like to go?

Your trip will bring you millions or even billions of miles from home. Our Earth-bound understanding of distance is hardly appropriate for making sense of the emptiness that stands between you and vacation bliss. Each journey is different, and we can’t predict what yours will hold, but we can promise you will never be the same: Your body, your outlook on life, and your understanding of the universe will be permanently altered.

The places you visit will be both strange and familiar. Earth-centric concepts of space and time give way to the rhythms of a greater physical order. The days may be far longer or shorter. A single year, the time it takes to circle the sun once, may last many human lifetimes. There might not be a ground to stand on. As you scale a towering volcano on another planet, gaze up at the stars from the bottom of a deep crater, or sail through skies filled with strangely colored clouds, the worries you faced in life on Earth will melt away. You’ll confront your own insignificance, and smile.

Fear not, we will help you vacation the solar system in style. This is an ordinary guide for an extraordinary holiday. We’ll start with the basics: training, packing, and the fundamentals of microgravity health and living. Then we’ll get down to the details of your itinerary. We’ll cover all of our solar system’s planets and other getaway spots, starting with those closest to home and moving to more distant locales. The Moon is followed by Mercury, Venus, and Mars, before we venture to the giant planets of the outer solar system—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Finally, we’ll review Pluto. It’s no longer considered a planet, but it’s just as marvelous a vacation spot as it ever was. In these pages you’ll find information on the best time to go, what to expect when you get there, and how to spend your time once you’ve arrived.

When you’re sailing the methane lakes of Titan, rappelling the cliffs of Mars’s Mariner Valley, or diving the subglacial seas of distant Europa, you’ll finally understand what it means to be an alien. We were built for Earth, after all, and nothing will remind you of your humanness more than an extended vacation to the vast void of outer space.

PREPARING FOR YOUR TRIP

You do not simply decide to take a space vacation and leave the next day. You’ll need to train hard, pack light, and get some serious grit. Nothing can really prepare you for the feeling of leaving the planet for the first time. But that’s exactly why you’ve decided to go.

Preflight Training

Your body has been shaped by a lifetime on Earth. Getting it ready to weather the new physical and mental sensations of space travel is a full-time job. Embrace the struggle. Assuming you survive the journey, you will cherish the memories you bring back for the rest of your life. A bit of work before departure will help you focus on what’s important—relaxation and fun!

Training for your vacation takes months to years, depending on where you plan to go. NASA’s qualifications for astronauts are very strict, and unrealistic for the casual vacationer. Let those qualifications be your guide as you consider your trip, and we’ll find a way to get you on your holiday regardless of whether you meet them.

Vision.Visual acuity must be corrected to 20/20 in each eye. In the past, only those with perfect vision were candidates for space travel. These days, laser surgery makes it possible for a wider group to satisfy this criterion.

Blood pressure.Not to exceed 140/90, measured in sitting position. In Earth’s gravity, your circulatory system pushes your blood up against the constant pull. In the absence of this downward force, blood can seem like it is rushing to your head. The better your blood pressure is before you go, the better chance you have of avoiding a heart attack brought on by awe-inspiring views.

Height.Standing height between 4'9 and 6'3. It’s difficult to design one-size-fits-all seating, as tall people who fly in airplanes can attest. NASA’s height requirements aren’t as strict as they used to be. In the 1960s, astronauts had to be less than six feet tall. Most NBA basketball players would be disqualified from being a NASA astronaut, which is too bad because there’s nothing like dunking on the Moon.

Military water survival. Knowing how to survive in water while wearing thirty pounds of combat gear means you’ll be ready to face a crash landing.

Scuba certification. Rather than training you to dive coral reefs, this helps prepare you for spacewalks. Learning how to breathe underwater with a compressed air supply will get you used to breathing with air tanks in the vacuum of space.

Swim test. Swim three lengths of a 25-meter pool without stopping while wearing flight shoes and tennis shoes. This standard test will determine whether you can meet the physical demands of your vacation.

Pressure test.Exposure to different pressures in high- and low-altitude chambers. On your vacation your habitats and space suits will protect you from dangerously high or low pressures. Getting used to big changes in pressure before you go will help you adjust to the disorienting sensations.

Gravity training.Experience 20 seconds of weightlessness 40 times in one day. Microgravity environments can be simulated by flying in an airplane through giant parabolic arcs. When the plane flies the downward portion of the arc, you’ll spend a bit less than half a minute floating. While on the upswing, you’ll experience stronger than normal gravity. If you can survive this dizzying ride on the so-called vomit comet, you can probably survive everyday weightlessness.

Neutral buoyancy training. Tanks of water are one of the best ways to simulate a microgravity environment on Earth. You’ll be fitted with weights to prevent you from floating or sinking.

What to Pack

You’ve booked your trip and completed your preflight training. Now it’s time to pack. Unless you’re going for a quick jaunt to the Moon, you need to prepare to leave home for a very long time. Think hard about what you absolutely need to bring, because it won’t be cheap to launch. You and your luggage must be shot into space at a minimum of 17,000 miles per hour to get to the first stop on your journey: orbit above Earth’s surface.

Back

[irregularreader · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Is the grind of life on Earth getting you down? Want to get away? Look no further! Vacation Guide to the Solar System is your one-stop guide to the farthest reaches of our celestial neighborhood. Want to know what to pack for a trip to Pluto? What to do when you arrive on Venus? What bungee jumping on Neptune would be like? Wonder no more!

In all seriousness, this book provides a huge amount of information, packaged in art deco, retro-futuristic kitsch. In addition to sci-fi information like baseball tournaments on the moon and ice skating (with heated skates to melt the rock-like ice) on Pluto, the book is also packed with the latest information on our neighboring planets, celestial bodies, comets, dwarf planets, and alien moons. The book itself is stunning, with gorgeous retro travel posters and illustrations combined with actual photos from NASA’s archives.

The whole thing was put together under the umbrella of Guerrilla Science (you should check out their website here). Guerrilla Science is a rouge collection of scientists and artists whose goal is to bring science to wide audiences through interactive and innovative installations and events. Their Intergalactic Travel Bureau provided the seed for this book.

This is a great source for information on our solar system, appropriate for kids and adults alike. Fans of astronomy, science, and science fiction should jump on this book. Anyone who likes entertaining nonfiction (Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars immediately springs to mind) will enjoy this book.

An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.